


Far Away and Missing You

by pinkrose787



Category: Voltron - Fandom, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Langst, M/M, Possible violence, Slow intro, klangst, multi chapter buildup, my poor darling lance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-21
Updated: 2018-09-18
Packaged: 2018-10-08 15:48:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 14
Words: 22,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10390242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinkrose787/pseuds/pinkrose787
Summary: Lance gets caught on a mission to save Shiro, and meets the evil Prince Lotor.





	1. The Missing Piece

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfiction so I hope you like it. Any CONSTRUCTIVE criticism is welcome. If you want to see updates check my writing blog pinkrose787writing.tumblr.com

They had finally defeated their greatest enemy Zarkon. There should have been relief and elation, instead there was only terror and despair. The leader of Voltron, the one who had brought and kept the team together was gone. The Black Lion was still and his Bayard was there, but he was gone. The youngest paladin Pidge was the first one to say anything after the horrible discovery, “He couldn’t have just disappeared! He just couldn’t have it’s impossible!”

Keith looked at Pidge with a great amount of concern and said with a twinge of pain in his voice “It should be impossible, but it isn’t.”

“WE HAVE TO FIND HIM! HE COULD BE HURT! HE COULD BE IN DANGER! HE COULD EVEN BE… EVEN BE…” Pidge screamed as tears started to stream from her eyes. She didn’t even want to think that he could truly be gone.

The rest of the room was silent. All the others were completely stunned. No one wanted to say anything except for two of Shiro’s closest friends, both of whom considered him as a brother.

“Until we find him someone needs to pilot the Black Lion. The Galra Empire still has holds in many places. We will need Voltron to put a stop to them.” The very thought of getting another Black Paladin was almost too much to bear. She might as well have said that they were never going to find Shiro.

“When we were stranded on that planet after getting separated in the worm hole, Shiro said that if anything happened to him I should be the paladin of the Black Lion.” As Keith spoke these words he was questioning if he was even up to the task, but he knew that Shiro knew what was best for the team.

“But, we would need a new paladin for the Red Lion if you become the paladin of the Black Lion” Lance interjected.

“I agree with Lance. We can’t just form Voltron with only four lions.” Hunk pointed out.

“I shouldn’t pilot the Black Lion. Allura should.” Keith said truly saying what he belived.

“Well I think we should rethink this after we rest. We have all had been fighting for so long we deserve a little rest," Allure said.

"WE CAN'T JUST SIT HERE AND REST! NOT WHEN SHIRO IS MISSING! WE HAVE TO FIND HIM!!" Keith screamed at Allura.

"Well, we can't do find him if none of us can think properly. We will figure this out, and we will bring him back."

"YOU'RE JUST AVOIDING THIS BECAUSE YOU DON'T CARE THAT HE'S GONE! HE'S JUST ANOTHER SOLDIER LOST IN THE WAR!" Keith said with such anger and hatred in his voice. Keith's words stung Allura where it truly hurt.

"YOU DON'T THINK I'M MISSING HIM! YOU DON'T THINK THAT I DON'T CARE THAT HE'S GONE! SHIRO HAS BEEN CLOSER TO ME THEN ANY OF YOU! I WAS IN LOVE WITH HIM. but now he's gone." Tears had started to stream down her face.

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize how much he meant to you. I think that we all should get some rest."

They all went back to their rooms, but none of them were going to get much sleep.

* * *

 

Shiro woke up. He couldn't recall any previous events. All he knew was that he was floating in space far away from the Castle of Lions. He just didn’t know where. Where was the Black Lion? Why is he floating in space? Where are his friends? Did they leave him behind on a mission? Are they dead? Is he dead? These questions filled his mind. He couldn’t tell where in space he was. There were no planets nearby. Not even a lone asteroid floating to an unknown destination. But there was one highly unnatural object there. It was a Galra Battleship.

It was coming closer at an alarming speed, but it was also going slowly as if it were looking for something. Shiro mind started to race. Is it looking for someone? Is it looking for me? No that can’t be possible. I just appeared here there is no way that they would know that I’m here. It must be some kind of an escaped prisoner or they are just doing  some maintenance and it was going slowly. Shiro was so lost in thought that he didn’t notice they had turned on their tractor beam until it was too late.

Shiro was filled with panic. He struggled against the beam. He tried to fly away. All his attempts at escape were futile. He was going to be brought onto the ship. He was going to end up as their prisoner again. The torture, the pain, the fear of being their prisoner was a nightmare he had escaped will repeat. It’s going to be worse than before. He is a paladin of Voltron. The worst enemy the Galra have ever faced. They will truly want to make him suffer. The aircraft hangar opened up, and there was the silhouettes of an army of drones, and a Galra general.


	2. The Thoughts in Our Head.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance talks to Keith, and Shiro is captured.

The Castle was filled with silence. Lance couldn’t stand this silence. He couldn’t stand being alone with his thoughts. All the possibilities of where and how Shiro is, simply floating around in his head. He thought that anything could be better than this so he headed over to the training deck, since he thought everyone else was asleep, and so he could get his mind to stop thinking about Shiro. When he got there, he heard someone else training. He knew without a doubt who it would be training at a moment like this. It was the red paladin himself Keith.

Keith had changed out his paladin armor and was now in his regular clothes. His hair was flowing so beautifully as he sparred with the robot. Sweat on his face, and the lights reflection made it seem as if he were glowing. His movements matched the grace of an angry ballerina. His purple-gray eye shined with such a fire for combat. How could he have never noticed Keith’s beauty before. “Um… Hey Keith”

“Lance, you’re up?”

Lance sighed, “Yeah, after what happened to Shiro I couldn’t sleep. So, I came up here to distract myself.”

Keith looked at Lance with an expression filled with sorrow, “I came up here, because it’s always what I do when I can’t sleep.”

“I wish there was something we could have done to stop this. I just hope that he is okay somewhere.”

“I don’t know how to deal with Shiro being gone. He had helped me through so much. He helped me after my father died. He was truly like a brother to me.”

“I didn’t know you had such a history with Shiro. And look I am sorry for trying to be your rival. It’s just that I was constantly compared to my siblings my entire life, and when I got accepted into the Garrison I thought it would be different. I thought that maybe I would be the one who people where compared to, but then in the Garrison they kept saying ‘You should be more like Keith,’ and then when you left they kept pointing out that I wouldn’t be a fighter pilot if you hadn’t gotten expelled. So, when we investigated the crash, and I saw you going in to save Shiro. I thought that maybe I could prove that I wasn’t just second best. I didn’t realize that you were saving someone so close to you.” Lance had tears in his eyes as he said this.

Keith looked at Lance with the same expression he gave Pidge earlier, “I didn’t realize that was why you were always trying to pick a fight with me. I thought you just hated me.”

“Keith, if I ever thought I hated you it was just hatred at myself. I just hated how I couldn’t be as great as you are. That I couldn’t be seen as your equal. The truth is Keith that I…”

Allura’s voice through the speakers cut lance, “Come quickly, to the bridge! I think I may have figured out a way to locate Shiro!”

Keith got up instantly and ran. Lance hesitated to run after him. He was just about to tell Keith the most important thing he would ever tell anyone, and Keith just ran away from him just like that.

* * *

 

Shiro slowly saw the Galra general slowly come into view. His hair was the color of snow, and went down along his back. While Shiro was figuring out who he was, he was grabbed by a galra soldier. “Greetings, Black Paladin. I am Prince Lotor, son of Zarkon. Head of this sector, and heir to the Empire. You are now once again a prisoner of the Galra Empire.” Lotor chuckled maliciously.

 “We will talk later. Guards take him to his cell.” Lotor commanded.

“Yes, Sir!” Both guards replied.

They dragged Shiro to his cell. Shiro tried to fight, but it was no use. They threw him into his cell with the same respect as they would throw trash into the trash can. Shiro looked around. It was just like all the other cells he had been stuck in. It was an empty room with a bench meant to act as a bed. The room had no light, except for the purple glow of the corridor outside. Shiro laid down on the bed and closed his eyes. He tried to think of a way that this was not reality. He wanted to wake up in the castle. Go to the dining room, and see all his friends. He wanted to see them doing their usual routine. He wanted to see Pidge on her laptop, Keith talking to Lance, Hunk baking with Coran, and Allura chatting with her mice.

His mind wandered over to his life while preparing for the Kerberos mission. He thought about his lessons with Matt about Engineering in the Garrison. The times he was invited to dinner at their house. He started to wish that he could see Matt and Sam again. He just wanted everything to go back to the way it was, and the way it was supposed to be. He wanted for the sample collection to have gone off perfectly. He wanted to have gone back to his family. He would have seen his parents cry with joy. Keith’s face light up with excitement at seeing him again. They would have celebrated his return from what was supposed to be a historic flight, but instead became a tragedy.

He tried to look on the bright side of the trip’s failure. He was able to find the paladins of Voltron. They had released a princess, and her advisor from a 10,000-year sleep. They saved the Arusians from the robeast. They had freed the Balmerans, and saved the Balmera. They had freed many Galra prisoners. They had saved the Alkari. The most important thing was how close they were together as a team. Shiro thinking of all of this he started to do something he hadn’t in a long time, cry.

He somehow fell asleep, and had an awful nightmare. Keith, Pidge, Hunk, Lance, Allura, Coran, Sam, and Matt were all around him in a circle. “You failed at saving us.” They said in unison.

“You failed at defeating Zarkon.”  
“You failed at the one job you were supposed to do.”  
“You are a failure.”  
“The entire universe will be destroyed, because of you.”

Keith walked up to Shiro with a look of pure disgust and hate on his face, “You abandoned me when I needed you most. I will never forgive you for that.”

Shiro woke up in a cold sweat. He stared at the ceiling trying not to think about the nightmare he just had. All the thoughts that used to cheer hum up when this happened were completely ineffective. He lied there for hours before his cell door opened. A Galra soldier walked in and said, “Prince Lotor has summoned you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next update will be by May 8, 2017. For more updates of the progress check out my tumblr, pinkrose787.


	3. The Only Hope

Everyone was in the bridge within a matter of seconds. Keith was there first, then Pidge, then Hunk, and then Lance. There was hope quickly filling the air. Everyone was as attentive as they could be to what Allura was going to say. When she saw all four of them were here she finally spoke up. “Paladins, I know Shiro is alive, but I do not know where he is. I realized the Lions of Voltron are connected to me. I was able to sense which one of you each of the Lions chose to have as their paladin. I can sense if the Lion is in need of a new paladin. That is to say, if the Paladin is dead. The Black Lion is not in need of a new paladin, because Shiro is alive. For the time being we will need Voltron. As agreed earlier I will pilot the Black Lion.” All four of the remaining paladins nodded in agreement.

Allura had to prepare herself for what she was about to say, “There is a very high chance that Shiro has been captured by the Galra. They will want to brag about it, so we will need to fight the Galra to drag them out into admitting they have him.”

“This is going off of too many risks. You are just assuming the Galra have him, and that they are willing to gloat about it.” Keith snarled angrily.

“We aren’t just assuming. I made something that monitors Galra communications. Unfortunately, were only able to intercept low level communications. I set up a scanner that searched for a few keywords and scanned each Galra communication that we have. There have been a few soldiers that communicated about the recent capture. There were many false flags, but we found that he is most likely located on a Galra battleship. The bad part about this is it is a fleet that consists of over 100 Galra ships.”

“Is there any way to find out which one it is?” Allura said

“We could search the prisoner data base, but that would require breaking into one of the ships, finding the control room, and waiting for a download to be completed.”

“It may be risky but we will find Shiro. No matter what.”

* * *

 

Shiro had reached the room where Lotor was waiting for him. The guard on his left touched a control panel and opened the door. The doors slid to reveal Lotor sitting a throne like chair with a spotlight on him. Shiro hesitated to go into the, so the guard on his right pushed him into the room. Shiro slowly walked up to the prince. “I certainly hope your stay last night was comfortable, since it is where you will be staying for the rest of your life.”

Shiro stood there in silence, and just glared.

 “Well anyways. I bet you are wondering why I brought you onto my ship. The reason is plain and simple. I am going to crush to all dissidence to my empire. And what better way than to show their leader and hero giving into obedience, and finally be executed.”

Shiro looked at him with disgust and simply said, “It isn’t _YOUR_ empire. It’s your father’s.”

“Well, you see my father is currently unfit to rule the empire in his current state, and since I am next in line, that make me emperor. Now to the main point of this conversation. You did not appear next to my ship by accident. We made you appear here.”

“What?! How?!”

“The answer is simple really. My father worked to recreate the technology of the Black Lion. One of which is teleportation. We simply locked coordinates onto you and pressed teleport.”

“But, why only me?”

“I thought that you the strategic leader of Voltron should have been able to figure that out. Your teammates find you too important to lose, so they will try to find and rescue you. When they break onto this ship. Central Command and a fleet of a thousand ships will appear. We will then kill your teammates.”

“You’re doing this all for Voltron?”

“Voltron. No I don’t care at all about that outdated trashcan. We have invented weapons that have proven time and time again their superiority. I am doing this to put the rebellion against the Empire down. I will prove to the citizens of the Empire that the Galra Revolution was the final revolution.”

“I have grown tired of explaining the most basic concepts and ideas to you. Guards! Take him back to his cell.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will most likely be posted by May 15


	4. The Final Clue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm trying out new methods of writing so this is a slightly different chapter.

It had been two weeks since Shiro disappeared. Team Voltron had worked nonstop to find their missing team mate. They had attacked many battleships and bases in hopes of finding any kind of lead on his location. Many leads seemed to pop up, but they always ended up back at square one. Their hopes of finding their leader and close friend were slowly starting die out. They already knew how to form Voltron in his absence. Allura was doing very well as the black paladin, but it was not the same without Shiro. Everyone’s performance was dwindling as they each dealt with this tragedy. Allura was burying herself in endless work. Keith would refuse to sleep or eat as he was endlessly training or searching each piece of evidence hoping that there was something they had missed that could lead them directly to Shiro. Pidge kept working in her computer, analyzing piece of Galra communication that she was able to see. Hunk was constantly trying to cook with the few strange altean ingredients, or he was working on a satellite that would gather more Galra communications and information with Pidge. Coran was constantly working on the castle desperately trying not to think that he had lost another friend to this near endless war with the Galra. Lance was trying his best to keep them all together, but he could not stop thinking about how this was just like how his family reacted when his sister died.

Lance and Keith were sitting on the couches in the living room. Lance was sitting across from Keith, who was sitting there exhausted from a constant training and a lack of food and sleep. Keith was staring just staring into space, and did not seem to be in the mood for talking. Lance looked at him longingly wishing they could continue the conversation that had gotten cut off by Allura. Now it seemed that there was never a good time to talk to Keith about how much he was in love with him. Lance wanted their relationship to progress further, but it seemed like the fake rivalry between them was the high point of their relationship. It was like Keith wasn’t there at all. Lance had been thinking of what could have been and what could be between him and Keith; when a galra from the Blade of Marmora walked into the room. Keith who seemed to have snapped out of his trance, looked at him with mild interest. They only show up if it was highly important, and absolutely necessary. The agent walked over to Keith, and handed him a flash drive. The flash drive was so small, but the amount of information they could fit on one of them exceeded 10 terabytes. “Hey! What’s this about?” Keith asked

The agent said nothing as he turned and left. Lance looked at Keith with an expression that radiated curiosity. Keith looked at the flash drive. “Well, aren’t you curious to find out what’s in it?”

“Yeah.” Keith replied.

He finally took his gaze to Lance and was quite shocked to see what Lance had slowly become. Lance’s hair was greasy with tangles and knots. His clothes were covered in stains, and it seemed like he hadn’t changed out of them in days. His face was shining from all the grease and sweat, bags had formed under his eyes, but his eyes they still were portholes into a vast deep wonderful ocean that sparkled under a midday sun. It was so unlike him to not care about his appearance in such a drastic way. He was always trying new forms and skin care, and made sure his hair was at peak perfection. He had dedicated the past two weeks to making sure they were okay, and he did not pay any attention to himself. “So, what are you waiting for? Let’s go find Pidge. We can use her computer.” Lance piped up unaware that Keith was thinking of him.

“Alright, I’m coming.” Keith got up off the couch and followed Lance as they went over to the Green Lion hangar which Pidge was spending most of her time.

Lance hated the walking through the corridors. Each looked the exact same as the last. The same metallic color of the walls. The same glowing blue lights. The same lack of décor. The same eerie silence. Lance hated it. He missed the warmth of his old family house. The sounds of his siblings playing in the living room. The photos of him and his family members covering up the wall so much you could hardly see the wallpaper. The warm light of the moon and the stars that he loved so much that he would crawl out of bed at night just to watch them, promising that one day he would go into space. Keith didn’t like the walks through them that much either. It certainly was much bigger than the shack in the desert he used to live in, but the emptiness was the same and different at the same time. In the shack, it felt like only on person should be in there at a time, but these corridors reminded him of the Garrison where students filled the halls between classes, having them empty just didn’t feel right. They finally arrived at the hangar. They opened the door and saw what they expected. Pidge on her computer designing a satellite while Hunk helped. “Hey, Pidge we’ve got something you could help us out with.” Lance said as he walked up to Pidge.

“Sorry, Lance I’m busy.” She didn’t even look up from her computer.

She had bags under her eyes that they made Lance’s look small. Her hair was shining from grease, and her hair was covered in rats’ nests and knots. She lacked her normal perkiness when it came to technology, since she had been so depressed. Hunk wasn’t much better, like Lance trying to help Keith, Allura, and Coran, Hunk tried to help Pidge with the same disregard for his health. He seemed completely exhausted. They both clearly had not bathed or slept in days. The hangar was also a complete mess. Papers filled with designs and calculations cluttered the floor. Laptops connected to each other, each of them running multiple simulations on the effectivity of each satellite design. “We need one of your computers. The Blade of Marmora handed us a flash drive and we need to find what’s on it.” Keith told Pidge.

That got Pidge’s attention. She snapped her gaze up from her laptop. Her eyes were wide with curiosity. If the Blade of Marmora personally handed them information it had to be important. She knew how protective they were of the rebellion, since Zarkon wanted to dissolve any form of rebellion within his empire. What could be so important that they would tell them like this? They only used these drives if it were information from a spy within the Galra ranks. She started to think about all the possibilities for what was on this small thumb drive. It could contain information about a future planetary invasion. There could be plans that if they analyzed them enough they could figure out a weakness in some kind of military technology. There was one thought that kept repeating. There could be some information on Shiro. She inserted the flash drive into her computer and waited for the computer to load and translate all the files.

There didn’t seem to be anything that important at first. There was a layout of a galra battleship. A list of guards working on the ship. They saw a file sitting there that included a list of all the prisoners on the ship. They clicked it with their fingers crossed. It opened, and there only was one prisoner on the entire ship. It was Takashi Shirogane. This was it. They had finally found Shiro after 2 weeks of searching. Hunk excitedly hugged all three of them. Lance, and Keith couldn’t help smiling. Pidge was just happy that she didn’t have to finish this satellite so soon. They all stopped the celebration with the realization that he had been a captive of the galra for two weeks. Pidge saw that there was a section that said notes, and she clicked on it.

Log Date 6.14.73: The prisoner Takashi “Shiro” Shirogane was brought aboard Battle Cruiser A113, after a successful test of the teleportation module, by request of Prince Lotor. Unfortunately, the teleportation module was destroyed by an unknown accident. Foul Play is suspected.

Log Date 6.15.2073: Prince Lotor requested his presence, and appears to have briefly talked to the prisoner about his involvement with the Paladins of Voltron, and the plan that would destroy any remnants of rebellion.

Log Date 6.19.2073: The prisoner refuses to stop talking about how his “friends” would do the “right” thing about decide ding to perform a prison break. A brief session of beatings and electric shocks have proven futile at shutting him up.

Log Date 6.25.2073: Prince Lotor has given us orders that we are not allowed to let the prisoner die, as it would ruin the plan to capture the rest of his teammates.

Log Date 6.27.2073: The prisoner still refuses to give in to our demands. We will try tougher methods. He cannot hold out forever.

They stood in silence, and gave each other a side glance, hoping someone would have something to say. Lance spoke up, “We have to go break Shiro out! He is in pain, and we can help him!”

“Did you miss the part that said they were going to ambush us if we tried to rescue him. We could lose Voltron if we try to save him.” Keith snapped.

Lance started to get up in Keith’s face and started to shout, “So you are just going to let him be tortured by the galra, for the rest of his life. I thought you cared about him, but you clearly don’t.”

Keith took a step back, “I don’t care about Shiro? You don’t care about the rest of the universe. You are going to let Voltron get captured, and have all hope for the universe destroyed. They will destroy everything if we don’t stop them. They will invade Earth at some point, and when they do they won’t give mercy to your family.”

“So, you are taking the side of your heritage than rather than the side of your friends.” Lance said.

Keith got so mad that he jumped onto Lance, and threw a punch. Lance retaliated by biting Keith’s arm. Keith shouted in pain. Lance managed to gain the upper hand. Pidge, and Hunk were watching the fight from the sidelines. Hunk went to break up the fight. He picked up Keith, who had just scratched Lance’s arm. He pulled Keith away from Lance. “Look, I know you are missing Shiro. We all are, but we can’t tear each other apart. Lance, you shouldn’t have attacked Keith verbally like that, and Keith you shouldn’t have attacked Lance like that. But, I agree with Keith. We can’t just save Shiro when they are planning to ambush us. Shiro expects us to be wise enough to not fall into this trap.”

“That’s not what he meant. He wants to be saved, but in such a way that we won’t be captured.” Pidge interjected.

“I don’t like the idea of leaving Shiro there, but you saw the security on that ship. They will make sure that no one does anything that they won’t know about.” Keith said.

“Arguing with you so pointless. I’m leaving.” Lance stormed out of the room, disgusted that his friend would leave someone he considered a brother behind.

“I am going to go see if I can convince Lance to leave this issue alone.” Pidge left the room to follow Lance. She had no intention of just leaving Shiro behind like that.

She followed Lance for 5 minutes until she was sure that the others weren’t following her or hear what she was about to say. “Lance, I know how to save Shiro.”

Lance stopped walking and turned around. His face was filled with shock and curiosity. “How?”

“We need to take pod 413, I equipped that one with invisibility after the last one blew up. We will fly all the way to the ship. That is step one. I will explain the rest of the steps in the pod if you come, so will you?”

“Of course, I will. We can’t let our friend stay prisoner.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will post Chapter 4: Infiltration by May, 26 2017


	5. The Infiltration

The ship was at first a tiny purple dot in the distance. Now, it was quickly coming closer, and was huge even by Galra battleship standards. It was a fourth of the size of Zarkon Central Command, and would have made Voltron look like an ant. It had an unusual shape. The upper half of it had the same shape as an Earth space shuttle, and the lower half was like a round rectangle. It had windows scattered about its surface, and the upper front half had a large dome on it that emanated a purple glow. “Woah! Is THAT the ship Shiro’s on?” Lance said in awe and terror of what he was seeing.

“Yes. Unfortunately, we have the issue of getting on. We won’t be able to save Shiro in the minimal time that we have with the ships invisibility. We are going to have to find a way to hide it.” Pidge said.

“How are we supposed to hide it on a ship, where there are guards everywhere?”

“I’ve been thinking about it and maybe we should abandon it. They’ll see the ship floating in space and think it is a piece of junk, and just brush it off. We are going to get off using one of their escape pods.”

“Wait, when are we abandoning the ship?”

“In a few seconds.”

Lance was a little bit startled, but he and Pidge unbuckled their seatbelts. The ship was still pretty far for traveling without a space ship, but Pidge had calculated it in such a way that they would be able to get to the ship with ease. When they jumped out they felt the coldness of space, even though they were wearing their paladin armor. Flying through space was so much different than flying through air. There was no feeling of wind in your hair, or the pull of gravity. Flying through space was simply moving from one spot to the next. They quickly got near the space ship. It was clear that there would be nowhere for them to softly land on the ship. They were unable to air where they landed, so they crashed into the side of the ship. Before they rebounded into the depths of space again, Lance grabbed a handle that was meant for maintenance. Pidge was unable to grab anything, so she started floating backwards. Lance quickly grabbed her arm, and helped her find a handle. They climbed down the maintenance ladder in order to enter the ship. They had found a panel that opened up to a room full of droids. The room was easily twice the size of a high school gymnasium. The droids stood silently in multiple rows. Each one of the them was holding a rifle. “They’re off. All we have to do is go to the front. They won’t wake up unless someone makes them.” Pidge whispered.

They silently snuck up to the front of the room. They had to rely on pure luck to get out of there. Any of the droids could have woken up and shot them on sight. They neared the doorway, when Lance tripped over one of the droid’s feet. When he was in the middle of falling he accidentally pressed a manual switch that woke the droid up. The droid instantly saw Lance and Pidge and prepared to shoot at them. Lance laid on the ground and stared at the droid. Pidge grabbed Lance’s hand and pulled him up. The droid started to shoot and they ran as fast as they could. The droid alerted the security of the ship that there were two intruders on the ship. All the other droids started to wake up. Lance and Pidge were getting to the door when a droid stood in the door and blocked their path. Pidge sliced it in half. Lance was behind her shooting as many droids as he could with his bayard, but it didn’t make much of a difference. They kept coming towards them. Lance and Pidge didn’t know how long they could hold out. One of their shots hit pidge, and she went down screaming in pain. Lance ran over to Pidge and picked her up. He could not fight while holding her, but it did not matter. He needed to get her to safety, but where could they go. They were in an enemy spacecraft, that was far away from the closest inhabited planet. Lance knew what he had to do. He had to get of this ship, and fly away even thought that meant leaving Shiro there. He had to find the escape pods. He was running down the corridor dodging the oncoming barrage of shots. He could not let Pidge die the same way he let his cousin die.

The memory of his cousin’s death were too painful to think about. It was in early September when it had happened. He was 12 years old and had gone to the beach with his older cousin, Mariposa. They lived within walking distance, so this was a regular occurrence. The beach was mainly empty, since tourist season was reaching its end. It was a warm and sunny day. Lance had put down their beach towels, and Mariposa went into the ocean. Lance was obsessed with surfing, and this day seemed to provide the perfect waves for a beginner to surf in, so Mariposa was going out to give him some tips on how to surf after she had surfed some waves herself. They were having fun, even though Mariposa wiped out a few times. Lance left to go get some drinks from a nearby shop. As he started to get near the shop it started to rain. The waves started to grow larger in size. He looked back to see how Mariposa was doing, but he couldn’t see her anywhere. He ran towards the beach, and saw her board floating alone in the water. That wasn’t much of an issue as she constantly fell off her board. Then he saw a lifeguard running towards her. The life guard pulled her out onto land. She wasn’t breathing. She tried to preform CPR on her, but it didn’t work. An ambulance came, and rushed her to the hospital. She was in a comatose state for two days, when she finally died. Her funeral was all a blur. He remembered his seeing his aunt and grandmother break down into tears. The sad sermon given by a priest. The singing of Amazing Grace where he broke down into tears in the middle of it. He was a pallbearer and watched with immense sadness as his cousin was lowered into a grave. He kept telling himself that he could have saved her if he had just stayed with her. He could have saved her if he turned around a minute earlier. If he had simply said that he had to do homework, he could have saved her, but he didn’t.

Mariposa was the one who constantly supported him. She was the one who was started his passion for space, since she loved it so much. She taught him astronomy. She told him stories of all different kinds of space missions. He was motivated by these stories to one day to one day go to the starts. Mariposa was ecstatic when he told her about his dream of joining the Garrison and becoming an astronaut. He worked so hard to make that dream a reality after her death. He poured all his time into school, so that he could get into the Garrison. He worked so excited when he received his acceptance letter. But, what did all this hard work get him? Being trapped on a spaceship and having to make a decision that decided which one of his friends would live and which one would die.

He was running through the ship searching desperately for the escape pods. Pidge was barely conscious. She tried to give Lance directions to the pods, but it all came out as gibberish. The ship was a labyrinth of hallways and rooms. Droids and soldiers showed up around each corner. Lance couldn’t keep running around this ship while carrying Pidge forever. He was starting to get tired, but he had to continue or two of his friends would die. He looked for any kind of map, but there was an expectation for the soldiers to have the entire ship memorized so there was nothing. He was running through a hallway that was lacking soldiers. Lance didn’t seem to notice this. He was still running when he was punched in face. He fell backwards. The attacker picked up Pidge and ran away. Lance chased after them. He couldn’t lose Pidge, not now, not when they were so close to escaping. He ran after them. They seemed to be moving at an unnatural speed. The attacker turned a corner, and then was gone. Lance dropped to his knees. He couldn’t believe what had just happened. He had worked so hard to keep Pidge safe, and now she was gone. He knew he couldn’t leave the ship. Not when Pidge was still on it.

He had to search for a place to hide so that he could make sure Pidge didn’t leave the ship. He found the Galra equivalent of a broom closet, and decided to hide there. It was bigger than a human broom closet, and the shelves could easily hold Lance. He moved the objects on the shelf around, so that he could lie there and sleep. He saw the gentle glow of the purple lights outside that seemed to move with a pulse, and fell asleep. He had a nightmare. He saw Pidge and Shiro being dragged away from him. He tried to chase them, but his feet were glued to the ground. The attacker had tied both of them up, and put a bag over their heads. He raised his rifle and killed them. Lance woke up in a cold sweat.

Lance got off the shelf. He didn’t know how long he was asleep. He just hoped that Pidge was okay, but how could she be okay. She was dying and being dragged away by an enemy the last time he saw her. He started to think about what they were doing to Shiro. Could he have been punished, because Lance and Pidge tried to save him? How he carry on? He was alone on an enemy ship in the middle of nowhere in space. Keith, Hunk, Allura, and Coran would never know what happened to them. They would be worse than they were. They would have lost two more friends. He tried to push this thought out of his mind as he walked down the corridor. It was empty like last time, but Lance would not be caught off guard. He would find who took Pidge, and he would force him to tell him what had happened to Pidge. He was looking at every door with the hope that one of them would lead him to Pidge. He found a door that was different from the rest. It had decorations that look like they were from the gothic era. A calligraphic L was on the door. Lance opened it up, and couldn’t believe what he saw.

There was a tall alien in the middle of the room. He did not look like he was completely galra. His ears looked altean, and he had a noticeable lack of fur. His hair was like if the moon had been turned into a fine thread. He was wearing a violet tuxedo with long  dark purple cape, and a beautifulThe room had paintings of the mysterious alien winning battles. His bed was longer than one on earth, but it wasn’t wider than a queen size. There were purple drapes flowing down the bed making it look like a stereotypical princess bed. The mysterious alien turned around, flashed a meanacing smile with his white sharp teeth and said in a seductive voice “So you are the blue paladin I have been hearing so much about.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will hopefully update by June 16th 2017.*  
> If you want updates on the progress of this nonfiction please check out my tumblr pinkrose787writing


	6. The Choice

Lotor stood in the middle of the room. His arms were crossed and he had a smug grin on his face. He started to take steps toward Lance. Lance glared at him. Lance charged at Lotor. He pushed Lotor against a wall. Lance held his bayard against Lotor’s cheek and said with pure rage in his voice, “Who the hell are you, and where are Shiro and Pidge?”

“I am Prince Lotor son of Zarkon and commander of this fleet. Oh, and the Black and Green paladins. They are sitting in a cell, but the Green Paladin is probably not going to make it.”

Lance was shocked. This monster he stood in front of was the son of Zarkon. He knew Pidge was injured, but he tried to push the thought of her dying out of his mind, but that made the thought just hurt more. He was the one who thought about coming here, and if Pidge died that would make him responsible for one more death. Lotor noticed Lance was taken aback by this revelation, and decided to take advantage of this opportunity. “If you stopped pushing me against this wall. I could show you how your two _friends_ have been for the past few hours.”

Lance thought about this. He could see that they were alive, but this could be a trap. If he let Lotor down he could attack Lance. If he didn’t he might lose the only chance he has to find out where his friends are. He eventually decides to take a chance. He lets go of Lotor, but he keeps his weapon with him just in case Lotor tries to attack him. Lotor walks over to a panel. Lance starts to panic. He didn’t think about Lotor contacting other Galra. Soon a whole army could descend on him. Why did he think letting Lotor go was a good idea? He waited for Lotor to turn around and tell him of his plan, but that didn’t happen. Instead a screen popped up with a video feed.

The video showed a cell. It was mostly empty except there was one person. His hair was mostly black with one part being completely white. He had a long scar over the bridge of his nose. It was Shiro. He sat in the cell looking down at the floor. The cell door opened, and Shiro looked fearful at what might come next. Instead of what he expected the guard threw Pidge onto the cell floor. Shiro had a look of pure shock on his face. He rushed over to Pidge who was lying unconscious on the floor. “No, that isn’t real. She’s just another trick.”

Shiro covered his eyes and started to cry. Pidge had regained a bit of consciousness and looked at Shiro. She tried to speak, but she couldn’t muster the energy to do so. She wanted to prove she was real. She reached out and touched Shiro’s shoulder. Shiro flinched. He decided to look at Pidge. He realized that she had to be real. Tears formed in his eyes. “Pidge. What happened?”

Pidge looked away from Shiro. She was silent for a few seconds. “We came here to save you. I got shot.”

“We? Pidge who came with you?”

“Lance.” Pidge started to trail off as she said his name. She slipped back into unconsciousness. Shiro started to panic. Pidge was injured and Lance was somewhere on this ship. Why did they have to try to rescue him? Now Pidge is lying on the floor dying. He starts to have a flashback about the first day as galra prisoner. When Matt would come back with bruises and scars after he was interrogated. Matt couldn’t even look at Shiro, and then the guards came to interrogate him. He snapped out of the flashback. He looked at Pidge who was still unconscious. The pain of the situation started to overwhelm him. He had to stay strong for Pidge, because what would she think she woke up and saw him crying. It would cause her to lose all hope in this situation, and they needed all the hope they could get.

Lotor stopped showing the video. Lance was almost in tears, but he could not show his enemy that he had a weakness. Lance wished that he hadn’t saw that. He wished that they were all back in the castle. Lotor looked at Lance and said with a smug grin on his face. “I will make a deal with you. You give yourself up and I free your friends. It’s your choice. Will you try to fight me, and end up dying with your friends, or will you agree to stay with me so that your friends can live. So, tell me Blue Paladin what will you choose to do?”

Lance knew Lotor could be lying. How could he trust his enemy? But, Shiro and Pidge had a better chance of living if he became Lotor’s prisoner. Were his friends lives worth more than his freedom? No, but he knew that if he said yes that he would never see his family again. They would spend the rest of their lives worrying about what happened to him, but he remembered that Shiro’s and Pidge’s families are worried about them too. He took a deep breath and said, “Ok, Lotor I’ll stay with you.”

Lotor got an ominous grin on his face and said “Excellent.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next one should be posted by next Friday June 26 2017. For updates on this and more of my works check you my tumblr pinkrose787writing


	7. The Fallout

Everyone in the castle was extremely worried. A few days ago, Lance and Pidge had gone on a dangerous mission to save Shiro. Keith had trouble sleeping, because every time he closed his eyes he could practically see Lance lying dead on the floor, or him being tortured by the Galra. The castle was now silent. Everyone in the castle wished he could hear Lance’s laughter, Pidge talk about technology, or even Shiro’s voice stopping a fight between Lance and Keith. Allura was constantly worrying about how they would need two new paladins if Pidge and Lance didn’t return, and wishing she could see Shiro again. She would stare into space sometimes hoping she could see some sign of their return.

She was sitting in the bridge, when an alarm went off warning of an approaching vessel. Allura looked on the monitor to see what the ship was. Her heart nearly skipped a beat when she saw that it was the missing pod. She quickly went on the com to announce that Lance and Pidge had returned. When Keith heard this he quickly left training, and started to run as quickly as he could to the hangar. Hunk and Coran were already there, when Keith got there. Allura was there a few seconds later. There was an impatient silence hanging in the air. The doors opened to allow the shuttle in. It landed back in its original spot. They were silent with anticipation. Shiro got out, and he was holding an injured Pidge. They all stood in stunned silence. Shiro had returned. It took them a couple of seconds to process it all, but their shock and joy at seeing Shiro alive temporarily made them unable to notice that Lance had not returned with them. Shiro desperately said, “She was shot by the Galra. We need to get her to a cryopod.”

They didn’t need to hear anymore. They rushed them to the med bay. They put Pidge in a cryopod. Shiro was checked for injuries, but besides a couple cuts and bruises he was fine. They began to question him about what had happened. Shiro told them everything. He told them about how Lotor had managed to teleport him near his ship, and brought him onboard. HE told them about his imprisonment, and them throwing Pidge in the cell. It wasn’t until he mentioned him and Pidge in the cell that Keith finally remembered an important detail. “Where’s Lance?”

The team stood there in silence. Questioning how they could forget about Lance. They looked at Shiro for answers. Shiro looked towards the ground. “I’m not sure.”

Keith started to get angry. “How are you not sure? How could you leave without him?”

Shiro didn’t get upset at Keith. He just sadly said. “I didn’t leave willingly. They knocked me out, and when I woke up I was on the ship heading towards the castle.”

Keith was furious. “Why did they just let you go? That doesn’t seem like something they would do. There has to be some reason why they did it.”

“I don’t know why they let me go either. When I first talked to Lotor he said that I could only leave by dying. I don’t understand why he would have a sudden change of mind.” Shiro said.

“It could have been someone from the Blade of Marmora. They must have had some kind of agent there to get the plans.” Hunk said.

“I don’t know. It wasn’t like the last time I got freed. He made sure I was still awake during the whole escape. Pidge might have some more information, but it might take a while for her to heal because of her injuries.” Shiro said.

Coran was watching Pidge’s vitals to make sure that she would be alright. He spoke up about her condition. “It’s strange. She seemed to be shot with a substance that was meant to knock her out rather than kill her. It appears that with the dosages she was hit with was meant to last a about 4 quintents.  She should be fine in thirty dobashs, but she appears ot be malnourished. We should get her some food to eat after she comes out of the pod.”

The wait was nearly unbearable. Pidge could have the information that could answer all these questions. Hunk had gone to make Pidge some food. Allura and Shiro had left the room. Coran was still sitting in the panel. Keith was still sitting in the pod room. He kept thinking about how he didn’t know if Lance was alive or dead. He tried to keep his mind off of the fact that Lance was gone and tried focusing on all the good times they had together. Like how sweet Lance was. He thought about all the times Like how sometimes Lance would call him samurai, or his bright smile whenever he got interested in a new alien culture. He thought about the cheer he tried to create for them. He remembered looking at him in the Garrison, and thinking about how cute he was. The shock he felt when Lance helped rescue Shiro and insisted that they were rivals. Keith went along with the rivalry, because it meant that he got to spend more time with Lance. The time he tried to swim with Lance, while it appeared like a coincidence that he was going swimming, and the elevator got stuck. These thoughts started to cheer up, but a thought kept intruding. It was that he may never see Lance again. He wished that his last words to him wasn’t a fight. He spent the next 10 minutes sitting in silence.

They had all gathered around the pod. It was silent. Only Allura decided to break the silence. “When Pidge gets out we shouldn’t ask her all our questions immediately. She will need some time to process what’s happened.”

A few seconds later, the cryopod opened. Pidge got out. She looked at all of them with confusion. “How did we get back here? And where’s Lance?”

They all looked at each other uneasily. Shiro was the first one to reply. “They let us go, but Lance wasn’t freed with us.”

“He’s still on the ship! Why did they let us go, but not him?” Pidge said.

“I don’t know. We were hoping that you would have some kind information.” Shiro said.

“I don’t know. All I know is that Lance and I were fighting some droids, and I got shot. Everything after that is really I blur. I think Lance carried me, and then someone who wasn’t Lance started carrying me. He was running fast, and mentioned something about having the two perfect bargaining chips.” Pidge said.

They all sat there for a couple seconds attempting to process what Pidge just said. Shiro realized what had happened. Shiro’s face contorted into a look of horror. “He gave himself up to save us.”

They all refused to look at one another. They all cared about Lance. Sure, he could have been a nuisance from time to time, but he was their friend. He was the one who tried his best, and constantly helped support the team. Coran was on the verge of tears, because he cared about Lance like he was his own son. Pidge always thought of Lance as an older brother. Shiro and Allura both cared about him. Lance was Hunk’s best friend. They never knew how much they truly loved him until he was gone. Keith decided to say something. “We have to save him!”

“We can’t you heard about what happened when they got there.” Shiro protested.

“Lance could still be here if I agreed to help on the mission. I could have protected him.” Keith shouted.

“Or you could have been caught or even worse killed.” Shiro shouted.

“I don’t care about that.” Keith shouted

“Well, I care! What makes you think that you would have been able to get me, Pidge, and Lance out safely? What makes you think that anything would have been any different.” Shiro said.

Keith looked at Shiro with rage in his eyes, and said with coldness in his voice. “I know because, I looked at the documents deeper than they did. I saw the plan to get you out, but I thought it was too risky. I was scared, and look at what happened because I was a coward.”

Shiro looked at Keith, and saw that tears were forming in his eyes. Keith spoke as Shiro noticed this. “I loved Lance, and I would have never let him come to harm. I should have been there to protect him”

Keith walked out of the room as tears began to stream down his face. He went to his room, and began to cry in his pillow. He wanted something to remind him of Lance, but there was nothing in his room that did that. So, he snuck out of his room, and went into Lance’s. He began to look at Lance’s stuff. All that was in his room was the outfit that he came in. Keith picked it up, and took it back to his room. He laid down on the bed and hugged the jacket to his chest. The scent of the jacket was wonderful. It smelled like a sandy beach. He found this scent so comforting that he fell asleep.

He started to dream. There was an army of Galra soldiers in front of him. They all were holding their weapons prepared for battle, and behind them was a tower. Keith looked up and saw that Lance was in chains at the top of the tower. Lance had a look of pure fear on his face, and when he saw Keith he screamed. “Keith! Help Me!”

Keith was too distracted by Lance to notice that the soldiers were advancing on him. When he was finally able to break his gaze away from Lance; he saw that they were only a few feet from him. Keith quickly got out his bayard and hit the first soldier in front of him. Keith destroyed soldier after soldier, but he wasn’t making any progress. Lance was still trapped on top of the tower, and Keith was still a mile away. Keith decided to try a new tactic. He leapt five feet forward and killed the soldier around him. He did this over a thousand times, and when he looked up he was shocked to find that Lance was still a mile away. It seemed all his fighting was futile, but he persisted. He wanted to be with Lance again. He had to find a way. He tried interrogating a soldier, running past all the soldiers, and even running on top of soldiers’ heads. Nothing worked. It felt like he had been doing this for years. He decided to try something insane as a way of getting to Lance. He took a bomb from a soldier, detonated it, brought out his shield, and flew towards the castle.

It actually worked. He quickly reached the tower, and started climbing it. He quickly reached the top, but when he did Lance wasn’t there. Keith realized that he had simply been chasing an illusion. He fell to his knees with grief and heartbreak. He finally came to accept that no matter how hard he tried he may never see Lance again. Keith woke up crying. He held Lance’s jacket closer to him hoping that it would provide some amount comfort, but it only reminded him that he was gone. Keith didn’t want to get out of bed. He didn’t want to do anything involving Voltron anymore. He just wanted to see Lance at least one more time. He just lied there in his bed staring at the ceiling for hours.

Keith’s stomach started growling. Keith questioned the point of eating if he would never see Lance again. He had to keep reminding himself that there was a slight chance that Lance was still alive. Not knowing whether he was alive or dead was the worst part of the situation. If he knew Lance was dead then he could grieve and hopefully move on, but he couldn’t do that because he might be alive. He heads toward the kitchen. He got himself some food, and tried to sneak back to his room, but he was ran into Shiro. He was startled. “Shiro! I uhh… didn’t see you there.”

“Shiro, look I’m sorry about what I said yesterday. I was just worried about Lance, and I still am.”

Shiro put his hand on Keith’s shoulder and said with a gentle smile on his face. “I understand Keith. To be honest I am worried about Lance too. I’m sure that there is a way to get him back. I’m worried about you Keith.”

Keith looked away. “You don’t need to worry about me. I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not fine. Hunk told me that today wasn’t the first day you’ve been reclusive.”

“I’M FINE THERE’S NOTHING WRONG WITH ME!!” Keith screamed.

Keith threw the bowl he was holding down on the floor, and stormed away to his room. Shiro thought about following him, but he figured it would be best to leave him alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter should be posted by July 7, 2017.


	8. The Deal

Lance stared at the floor. When he agreed to become Lotor’s prisoner; he wasn’t thinking properly. He just knew that he had to do what he could to protect his friends. Now, the reality has started to sink in. He is now a prisioner of an alien prince. He may never be free again. He could never see Shiro, and Pidge again, even though he fought so hard to save them. Pidge could be dead for all he knows. Hunk was his best friend, and he probably would take this the hardest. He doesn’t know how Allura would react. Would she be happy he was gone? She always did see him as an annoyance. Coran would be worried, he probably would react the same way he did when Allura got captured. Keith would be worried. He was right that going on this mission was dangerous. What hurt the most was that he never got to tell Keith about his true feelings.

His cell door opened. Lance didn’t even want to look at who came in, because whoever it was just wanted to cause Lance misery. The person who came in spoke. “Hello, Lance.”

Lotor’s voice filled Lance with anger. He is the one who caused the awful events that led Lance here. Lance didn’t want to dignify Lotor with a response so he just stared at the floor. Lotor spoke again with a slightly annoyed tone in his voice. “You know it is rude to ignore someone when they talk to you.”

“You know, it’s rude to imprision someone.” Lance responded.

“I didn’t force you to become a prisioner. You chose to out of our own free will.” Lotor said.

“You didn’t give me much of a choice.” Lance said

“I didn’t come to talk to you about your trivial feelings. I came to talk to you about something more important.” Lotor grew a sinister smile on his face.

“I came to talk to you about joining my army.” Lotor said.

“I am not going to join your army Lotor. I agreed to be your prisoner, not a soldier.” Lance said.

Lotor chuckled. “Well, I hope you can live with consequences.”

The color drained from Lance’s face, and he broke in to a cold sweat. “What consequences?”

Lotor’s smile grew bigger and more menacing. “I am a prince of the Galra Empire. I can give the word and your precious Earth will be destroyed. If you don’t join my army , Earth will be destroyed.”

The room started to spin for Lance, but he had to stay strong. “Voltron will stop you.”

Lotor laughed. “Earth would be destroyed before they even new what was going on. Plus, Voltron can’t be formed with a missing paladin.”

Lance realized he was right, because Lance gave himself up he left the universe defenseless. If he had left Shiro there they could have still formed with Allura as the black paladin, but there was no one who could be the blue paladin. Lotor has left him with no choice again. “Okay, I’ll join your army.”

“I knew you would.” Lotor said

“iI’ve known you would ever since I first saw you.” Lotor’s face grew to be very smug.

Lance was taken aback by that comment. “What- what do you mean?”

“I was investigating Earth to see if it should be what it would add to the empire. I watched an Earth training center referred to as the Garrison, and I saw you. Your capabilities were far superior than your peers. Your mentors lacked the capability to understand that their technology wasn’t fit for your capability.” Lotor put his hand on Lance’s shoulder.

Lance started to get a bit confused, because Lotor was complimenting him? No one had praised Lance in such a way since Mariposa died. It honestly felt pretty nice, even though Lance knew he had an agenda. Lotor continued talking. “If they had Galra technology, you could have beaten Keith in a battle. Until, then you are going to have to go through a training _program_.”

“A-a training program?” Lance asked.

“It’s just a little something to ensure your loyalty. Nothing much more.” Lotor told Lance.

He turned to the guards and said, “Take him to the druids.”

Lance face became pale. Nothing with the druids was ever good. He started to panic. He wanted to fight, but couldn’t because if they did they might attack Earth. He walked with his head hung low to the druids simply thinking. “How could I let myself get into this situation?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next one will posted hopefully by August 20, 2017. I know I said August 10 earlier, but I have been unable to work on it due to summer homework, and other projects.


	9. The Argument

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am really sorry for updating later then I promised earlier. I have been dealing with the mess that is the beginning of the school year. Also, I will be ignoring most information presented in Season 3, but some things will change.

The first phase of his plan to turn Lance into an elite soldier for the Galra Empire was going better than he could have ever predicted, and it was all thanks to his genius planning. He was the one who sent out Narti as a fake Blade of Marmora agent to the castle with a usb drive filled with false data, and a trojan horse that would allow him to gain access to all security vid. This data would make them plan a way to save Shiro. Lotor knew that Lance practically worshipped Shiro, and Lance’s charisma would win over at least one of the other paladins. It was mere luck that it was Pidge who he knew that Lance would protect at all cost. They would read the false data and end up in a room filled with battle drones. While, they fought the battle drones they would not notice that a cannon had been lowered from the ceiling. This cannon would fire a toxin that would render Pidge unconscious for about 4 days. While Lance pathetically ran around looking for either Shiro or an exit, he sent out Ezor to grab Pidge and take her to the prison cell. This prison cell was placed in such a way that being there one would never guess that there are more than 200,000 other prisoners on the ship. Lotor made sure that Lance would not see any of this, because if he did then Lance would try to bargain for all of them to be freed as well. He also made sure that Lance would be able to find his room very easily, so that the bargaining could commence. Lotor had to hold up his end of the deal, because if he didn’t then Lance would fight back, and refuse to believe his threat about attacking the Earth.

Now, he was going to commence phase two. It was going to be more complicated, but it was going to be more satisfying as well. The first part of phase two was simply watch the castle feeds for anything that could be used against them.

The first days of Lance being gone were surprisingly dull. They were all lamenting the loss of Lance. Keith’s outbursts were worse. Pidge and Hunk seemed to have grown closer to each other since they both were on a team with Lance at the Garrison. Shiro became more reclusive. Coran became noticeably quieter and much more serious. Allura tried to hide her feelings behind work, but would confide in the mice more frequently. Lotor began to dread watching these feeds, but he knew that he had to persist no matter how tough it was. It took over a week for things to get interesting. They had all started to realize they had to deal with this situation in one way or another.

It started at dinner. Shiro, Pidge, Keith, and Hunk ate plain food goo, since none of them had the effort to at least try to make these meals seem better than they were. They sat and ate in total silence, No one dared to make eye contact with each other. Shiro stood up and said, “We need to address the fact that Lance is gone.”

Everyone looked up at Shiro in pure shock. “Lance had been gone for over a week now, and the universe is facing a much bigger threat than Zarkon right now. We need Voltron, and we need a new Blue Paladin. If we don’t who knows how many more people will perish in the reign of the Galra Empire.” Shiro said

Keith shot up from his chair. He slammed his harms down on the table and shouted, “We can’t replace Lance! We know where he is. We could just storm the place and rescue him!”

Pidge looked at Shiro with pain in her eyes and said with anger frothing from her voice, “Lance sacrificed himself to save us. Did that mean nothing to you. We wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for him.”

“Lance was the one who kept pushing for us to go and rescue you. I thought that it was a bad idea, but Lance was persistent. He was my best friend and I should have been there for him.” Hunk said as tears threatened to flow.

“I know that we all care about him, but we need to move on.” Shiro said.

Keith stormed over to Shiro, and he screamed. “Lance would have searched the whole universe to save you, and this is how you repay him! You just say that we need to move on! If I went missing would you just say that we need to move on, or would you search the entire universe?”

“Keith that is nothing but a hypothetical. The universe need Vol- “

Hunk interrupted Shiro and said with a cold anger in his voice. “When we were in the Garrison, Lance told me about how you were his hero for going on the Kerberos Mission. He was so happy to be able to work with you, but you ignored him. You focused on everyone else but never him, and now you are just repeating 'We need to replace him.' Lance is one of a kind and there is no one in the entire universe like him. I don’t even want to go back to Earth without him, because I’ll have to face his family. I bet you didn’t even know anything about him. Did you know that he is the youngest of all his siblings, or that he is a beloved uncle to his young nieces and nephews? I’d have to explain to them as to why Lance didn’t come back when he could have. Lance’s parents have already lost a kid, I don’t want to tell them that they lost another.”

Shiro looked down in shame. “I didn’t know that.”

“Of course, you didn’t. You probably don’t know anything about me either.” Hunk said.

Pidge was looking down at the table, and said. “You know Shiro with all the stories my Dad and Matt told me about I thought you would react differently. I guess you just don’t care about Lance like any of us do.”

Shiro was beginning to panic. “That’s that’s not what I meant. We can try to save Lance, but we need to think of what to do if we can’t.”

“Of course, it’s not what you meant. It is never what you meant. You just don’t want to admit that you never cared about Lance.” Hunk said

“I care about Lance! I am upset about the fact that he’s gone, but we need to move on for the sake of the team.” Shiro shouted.

“It’s always the sake of the team with you. You are always thinking about the team, but never the individual. Come on guys let’s go.” Hunk said as he exited the room with Pidge and Keith following.

Shiro was now alone in the room with only his thoughts. He thought about the accusations they had said. Shiro put his head down on the table and cried.

The moment played out better than Lotor could have ever hoped. He now had a scene that he could alter to make the scene seem like it went down completely differently. Once, Lance saw the footage he would surely pledge loyalty to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know Mariposa was previously Lance's cousin, but I changed that, because of new information presented by the writers of the show. CHAPTER 10 WILL BE POSTED eventually.. Also I am really sorry about the lack of updates, but all the time that I normally devote to writing has been taken over by other things. Like I WAS going to spend December 3rd 2017 writing, but my dad is dragging me to an event I don't want to go to. Also I have a lot of homework since when I was updating it I either didn't have class or my classes were all easy ones with minimal homework, but now I'm in 4 honors and an AP class, and (ironically) my creative writing class is keeping me from writing since I have to do a lot of work. And the other times I couldn't write when my classes were lighter (since it was the beginning of the year) was I was (still sorta am) ill, and I had to deal with Hurricane Irma, so my house lost power for a few days. Also Chapter 10 is very important to the story and I am really trying to work out what to do correctly, but it's been kinda hard also I can't really get into the groove writing, Another thing that is keeping me from writing is the simple fact that I have ADHD and depression so getting the energy to write is really difficult and when I am I can't sit down and just write (and I don't seem to have the same hyper focus other people with ADHD have so I cant just sit and write it endlessly) Also I'm trying to write other things for other fandoms, but even writing a one shot is nearly impossible A good thing though is that I am now using a laptop at school so I have put it on a usb so that whenever I can at school I can write it but as I said previously I am trying to write some other things. Sorry about this description rant, but I felt like I owed you guys an explanation for the lack of updates (Another note I was kinda procrastinating chapter 10 (sorry) I'll try to update it as soon as possible.


	10. The Broken Light

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am really sorry that it took almost 5 months to write this chapter. Since I do not want to reiterate the whole thing I will leave Ch.9's end note up. I would have posted this a couple days ago but I unfortunately did not have any internet. This is also the longest chapter I have ever written

The Galra Empire had been an enemy of the universe for many millennia, while Voltron had been a symbol of hope for many civilizations. One day Voltron disappeared, and the Galra Empire conquered and destroyed without resistance. Over time Voltron became a legend, that people held onto in hope that one day they would be freed from the chains of their oppressors. A few rebel groups cropped up from this hope, but they were always crushed. And with them hope for freedom and a better life began to fade. There were entire planets that became compliant to the acts of genocide, and oppression that the Galra Empire committed. But, one day Voltron returned. Numerous planets were able to experience freedom once again. The legend that had been spoken in the wisps of the wind was now a source of true hope. The five who piloted the lions that formed Voltron were known as heroes across the universe, and Lance was a proud member of Voltron. He was a key part in freeing each of the planets. But, now he was a soldier for the Galra Empire, and a traitor to Voltron.

Lance had finished training for the day, and was lying on his bed. His training had taken a toll on Lance both physically and mentally. It was much more rigorous than the training he went through when he was a Paladin of Voltron. And, Lotor’s generals were cold, and never talked to him outside of training. He missed the warmth of training with his former teammates. He missed the jokes about the mistakes. He missed Keith’s little taunts, and Shiro firmly telling them that they needed to focus. But, most of all he missed the connection he felt with them, and he missed being able to talk to them. But he hadn’t been able to even know about what was happening involving Voltron for the past four months.

He listened to the outside of his room. He heard the repetitive footsteps of the drones, and the quiet conversations of the soldiers passing by. But, when those passed he was left with silence, and the only thing he could hear was the hum of the spaceship. There was no real threat of attack to the ship, but every time the ship shook a bit or there was a thud, Lance couldn’t help, but hope that it was his friends coming to rescue him. Lance held on to that little bit of hope. but he couldn’t help but feel guilty. When he tried to rescue Shiro, Pidge nearly died. He didn’t want that to happen to them. And, was he even worth dying for?

Lance had gotten injured protecting Coran during battle once, and they managed to win just fine without him. And when he got out of the cryopod they immediately began to insult and ignore him. They didn’t even stop to ask him how he was. But, despite this terrible treatment he would trade his life and freedom all over again for them to be safe and happy. And, perhaps they were happier without him. They all had their own relationships with each other, and Lance wasn’t a part of any them. He would see them split into their sperate groups, and he would be left behind. There wasn’t much to do in the castle for someone who was alone. He would wonder the halls searching for something to do. Occasionally, he would catch glimpses of what the others did when they were separated. He would hear a bit of laughter in the halls, or he would catch bits of conversations. These noises floating around him reminding him of how alone he was.  When there were no sounds of laughter, the silence that filled the castle was the exact same as the silence that currently filled his cell. The silence in his cell was broken when the door was opened. Lance didn’t have to look to know who it was. It was his captor, Lotor. He had been visiting his room regularly in an attempt to win him over even more. He heard Lotor’s footsteps as he made his way to where Lance lied. Lotor sat on the bed next to Lance, and spoke. “I know you must be exhausted from training, but I think we should talk.”

“I know that we have some differences, but were working together now, and you can’t just shut yourself away after training. You have to remember that you don’t have to be alone anymore. I’m here for you.” Lotor reached for Lance’s hand, but Lance quickly pulled it away.  
“Just tell me when you’re ready to open up.” And with that statement Lotor got up and left the room.

Lance just lied there on his bed staring at the ceiling and thinking of all that he lost.

The next few days went at a crawl. Each day’s training went on endlessly, and the generals were strangely absent. But despite this the training was still just as rigorous, and each day ended with him lying in bed staring about the ceiling. He thought of how he left Earth so suddenly without even being able to tell his family goodbye. Now, he would never see them again. He would never be able to help his mother make food for their restaurant. He would never be able to see his niece excitedly tell people stories about the ocean. What did his family think of his disappearance? The day before Shiro crashed on Earth, he was telling his parents about how his classes were going fine, and that he really enjoyed being at the Garrison. They had no reason to believe that he would ever just run away. He wished that the hadn’t left to see what that crash was about. He wished he never went to help Shiro escape from the Garrison. He wished he had never found the Blue Lion. But, if he hadn’t found the Blue Lion then Zarkon would still have a hold on countless planets, and continue to conquer the entire universe. But, that only made Lance feel worse about wishing he had never found the Blue Lion.

It was on one of these endless days when Lotor summoned Lance to the command room. Lance didn’t want to go there at all, but what choice did he have. So, he walked to the command room slow enough to bother Lotor, but quick enough that Lotor wouldn’t think he was doing it on purpose. When he got there Lotor was the only one in the room. This wasn’t unusual, since the Prince preferred privacy, but it was still unsettling. Lotor was sitting in a chair at the back of the room, and facing towards Lance. “Ah, Lance I see you finally made it.”

“Ha ha… Uhh… yeah I just kinda got lost in the hallways.” This was a lie of course, but Lance was doing his best to make light of the situation.

“Well, if you needed a guide you could have just asked.”

“No, no I found my way just fine.”

“Well, we should continue with why I called you here.” Lotor said.

“You’re here, because my generals are doing some reconnaissance on the planet Yuzam, and we need to sort the information that they’ve gathered so far.” Lotor said.

“What’s so special about Yuzam?” Lance asked

“The Yuzamians claim to have made technological advancements that rival the Olkari’s, and could take out the Empire and by extension my father. We need to capture that planet, and take any tech they may have and claim it for the Empire. You need to search through the intelligence that they have gathered, and find any evidence that would lead you to the location of their technology. Do you understand what you must do?” Lotor explained.

 Lance despised the idea of helping the Galra Empire do anything, but he wasn’t in any position to argue with Lotor. So, he sighed and he said, “Yes, I understand.”

“Good,” Lotor replied.

He walked over to a console where he brought up a screen. He clicked furiously at the keys, and brought up various different screens. The way Lotor was using the computer reminded Lance of how Pidge would always hack into enemies’ computers when they were on a mission. He missed his friends deeply, and his mind drifted to memories with his friends. Memories of them fighting enemies, of them talking about what they missed about their home worlds, and of them joking around with each other. He missed the bond he felt with the other paladins.  All of these memories he missed so much. He wished that he could be reunited with his friends so much, but deep in his gut he knew that it may never happen. He thought he faintly heard Keith calling his name, but quickly realized that it was just Lotor explaining what to look out for, and how to find information. Lance began to half listen to Lotor, and continued to think about his friends. Eventually, Lotor stopped with the explanation, and asked Lance, “Did you get all that?”

“Yeah, I got it” Lance replied, when he in fact got none of it.

“All right. I have to leave, but I will check on your progress in a couple hours.”

Lance watched as Lotor exited the room. He looked at the computer panel and found that it was English, so at least he could read what was written, though there were words that he didn’t understand. He tried to remember what Lotor had said about what he had to do, but he couldn’t. Fortunately, it seemed that Lotor had expected Lance to forget most of it, and there was a document that contained instructions on what to look out for. It simply stated that he had to look for any plans for new technology, codes, and plans. It was something that Lance could easily manage. Lance began to sort through files of what had been intercepted, and easily sorted them. He hated how he was being forced to undermine resistance, but he couldn’t stand to think that Earth could be destroyed because he didn’t comply with what was expected of him.

He had been watching video that was stolen from a security system in the main headquarters, when he saw Pidge walk into the room. He couldn’t believe that she was perfectly fine, since the last time he saw her she was in unconscious after she was shot. She was followed by Hunk, then Keith, then Shiro, and then Allura. Lance was so happy to see them once again, but felt horrible for what he saw next. A person who looked like a taller Pidge walked in behind them, and he was wearing the blue paladin armor. They acted almost the exact same as they did with Lance, except it was much friendlier. It was like he wasn’t there any more, like he didn’t matter to them at all. He watched as it went the exact same as any other diplomatic mission Voltron went on. Allura approached the leader of the Yuzamians, and gave a speech about how important it is for them to join the coalition. Then they would join the coalition, and have a feast to celebrate their new allies. He watched the feast, and listened in on their conversation. Allura stood up, and began a toast. “Greetings Yuzamians, I could not be more grateful for your decision to join the coalition. With your help we will be able to take down the entire Galra Empire.” Allura raised her glass, “To the coalition!”

Everyone raised their glass and replied, “TO THE COALITION!”

Soon after the toast Hunk turned to Keith and, “These missions have gone much more smoothly without Lance around to ruin them.”

“And It’s been a lot more peaceful around the castle without him.” Keith replied.

“Yeah, I’ve been able to invent way more since his disappearance. I think everyone’s been enjoying his absence. Plus, my brother has been a much better Blue Paladin.” Pidge interjected

Lance couldn’t believe what they just said. It couldn’t be true could it. Perhaps it’s was just taken out of context. He began to search through the files, and found one titled Castle of the Lions. It was filled with hours upon hours of video. He was disgusted by the fact that they had video from the castle, but he clicked on a video anyways. The one he clicked was right after Shiro and Pidge came back after they were captured. He watched as they rushed Pidge over to the medbay, and how happy everyone was to see Shiro safe. But, there wasn’t a single mention that he was gone. It seemed like no one noticed it at all.

Lance skipped to another clip it was the team at dinner. Pidge spoke about her plan to go and find her brother. There was a bit of arguing about how much the team needs Pidge to stay, but Shiro was on Pidge’s side. He argued that the team needed a new blue paladin and that Matt would be a better Blue Paladin than Lance ever was. Everyone seemed to be an agreement about that. Hunk joked about how a pile of food goo would be a better Blue Lion pilot than Lance.

Lance quickly turned to another video, but it was more of the same. In this one Keith was standing in a hallway talking Shiro. The timestamp stated that it was a couple days after Lance’s disappearance. They were talking about Lance which quickly got his attention. Lance began to listen to what Shiro was saying. “Keith, I think we should move on from Lance. It is affecting the entire team. Fortunately, he piloted the Blue Lion which is the easiest one to switch paladins.”

“Lance could come back at any moment. I’m not sure that we should be looking for a new Blue Paladin.” Keith said.

“We don’t have time to wait for him to come back. We need to take action, and do what’s best for the team. “

“I guess you’re right.”

“On the bright side, this means that this whole war is going to be a lot more enjoyable to fight without Lance being a complete nuisance at every turn.”

Keith chuckled. “Yeah, I can get through a training session without him barging in, and dramatically talking about his feelings.”

Lance quickly turned to another video, but it was more of the exact same thing. It was more of them talking about how much better they were without him. He switched to another video, but it was the same. He kept switching videos, and they were all the same thing. Each and every one of them involved them talking about how much they hated him

He simply couldn’t believe it they actually hated him. But, what about the memories of the good times they had together. They couldn’t be fake, could they? All those times they had spent laughing together, and being kind to him couldn’t all be fake. If they really did hate him they would have shown it at one point, but they did. All those times they were annoyed by him. All those times they told him to shut up. All those times they told him to go away. They all were their way of saying that they hated him. Lance began to sob as this realization fully hit him. He legs felt weak, and then he fell to the ground.

He just lied there sobbing for a few moments, and then he heard the door open and footsteps rush over towards him. “Lance! Are you all right?” Lotor asked him.

Lance was relieved to be able to talk to someone about this. He pointed to the screen “My my friends they they all hate me. They they all don’t care about me.”

Lotor kneeled down next to Lance. Lance looked at him and saw that there were tears in his eyes. “I’m sorry you had to see that. I should have given you some kind of warning about what some of those files contained.” Lotor spoke in a gentle soothing voice.

“I-I just can’t believe that they would lie to me about how they felt?” Lance managed to say through is heavy sobs.

“I just don’t know, but it’s going to be okay. You don’t have to be around them anymore.”

Lotor pulled Lance into a hug. Normally, Lance would try to push him away, but he simply needed someone to vent to. “It’s going to be okay Lance. I’m here for you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this had some weird changes in quality. Please tell me if there are any weird typos, because I forget to proofread. I hope that Ch.11 will be posted by Mar. 05 2018 (I know I pushed the date back six times, but my I have gotten ill numerous times, and school is just piling on the homework) [I am almost finished writing the ending for the chapter so it should be posted within the week.


	11. The Replacement

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long. Also since Season 5 just came out I'm just going to be putting this out there, but this is just a reminder that this was written after Season 2 with some details being added with the new canon.

It had been months since Lance disappeared, and so much has happened since then. Shiro took his spot back as the Black Paladin. Pidge had found Matt and he was made into the new Blue Paladin. But, to the rest of the universe nothing had changed; Voltron was still saving planets from Galra rule and still giving hope throughout the universe. But, to Keith everything had changed. Lance, his closest friend had been captured by the Galra. His absence was obvious at every turn. There was no one making jokes when the situation got too serious. There was no one challenging Keith at every turn. There was no one who was willing to open up to Keith like Lance did.

Everyone else acted like Lance’s disappearance no longer affected them, but it was clear that everyone else was completely changed. When they were at a meeting they still expected Lance to crack a joke, but he couldn’t since he wasn’t there. When they formed Voltron they still expected to hear Lance make a clever remark, but that remark never came. When they were at a diplomatic meeting they expected Lance to charm everyone, but he didn’t, and alliances started to become harder to make.

Allura had set up a mission to the planet Yuzam in an attempt to form an alliance. The planet was absolutely stunning. The buildings were filled with inticate designs made out of glowing gems. The lights and windows were all made out of opal. The city paled in comparison to the site of Voltron and the Castle of Lions landing.

When the paladins stepped out of the castle they saw that the streets were lined with people. They were cheering and holding signs that cheered on Voltron. There was a band energetically playing triumphant music. Keith was in awe of how much these people loved them.

They stood there for a few seconds looking at the crowd, when the crowd began to part in order to make a path for the Queen to walk through. She approached them, and looked back at the crowd which had grown silent and spoke “Greetings Paladins of Voltrons. I am Queen Mizan, and I welcome you to our wonderful planet.” She gestured to the crowd and they all began cheer even louder than they did before.

“Now, if you would all please follow me I will show you the way to the palace.” She continued.

Queen Mizan guided them through town. They waved at the crowd as they passed by. Eventually, they got to the palace. It was five stories tall, and it was the length of two Voltrons. It walls were made out of a pink marble, and the windows were made out of yellow diamonds. They walked into the main hall which had banners that showed the history of Yuzam in vibrant color. There were images of its founding, and of the many wars they had fought against the Galra. The hall was filled with various nobles and workers. There was a stage decorated with red, yellow, blue, green and black ribbons that held a podium in the middle of it. Allura walked up to the podium, while the rest of team Voltron stood off to the side. Allura took a deep breath and began to give her speech, “Citizens of Yuzam! As we all know the Galra Empire has been conquering and destroying the universe for many decapheeps, but now that time has come to an end. Voltron has defeated the Galra in many battles, but we cannot fully stop the Galra Empire on our own. We need you to help us finally defeat the Galra Empire once and for all.”

Her speech was met with cheers and a standing ovation. Allura stepped down from the podium and went over to stand by the rest of Team Voltron. They stood in silence as Queen Mizan walked up to the podium. “Everyone we thank Team Voltron for coming here today, and I would like to announce that we are joining the coalition.”

Cheers erupted from the crowd. The band began to play cheerful celebratory music. Allura and the rest of Team Voltron stepped off the stage and began to mingle with the rest of the crowd.

The festivities of the celebration went from meeting people in the crowd to a celebratory feast. The room was set up so that there was a long table with six chairs on each side and one chair at each end, with multiple smaller round tables that sat 7 people surrounded them. Allura sat at one end of the table and on her right, was Shiro, Pidge, Matt, Keith, Hunk, and Coran. On Allura’s right were seven high-ranking diplomats of Yuzam, and on the other end of the table was Queen Mizan. Allura stood up and gave a toast that made everyone be in good spirits.

The dinner progressed with there being on conversation with the entire table that slowly diverged into different smaller conversations between two or three people. Hunk and Keith had their own conversation going. “This mission has gone pretty smoothly despite Lance being gone,” Hunk said.

“Yeah, they certainly have been quieter without him.” Keith replied.

Hunk looked at Matt, who was in a deep conversation with Pidge and Shiro and spoke to Keith in a quiet whisper. “Matt’s great and all, but I really miss Lance.”

“Yeah, I miss him too.” Keith replied.

Keith looked over at Matt who had gotten up and began talking with other tables. One of the people Matt was talking to told a joke that Keith couldn’t make out, but it made Matt laugh loudly. His laugh was as sweet as Lance’s, and his smile was just as bright, and it made Keith’s heart pound faster than it ever had. Keith struggled to look away.

The night went on and the festivities ended. They said goodbye to the Yuzamians, and boarded the lift into the Castle of the Lions, but as the doors closed Keith thought he saw a strange purple figure in the distance that was running towards three other figures. but he couldn’t look at it long enough to figure it out. The Castle was quiet, and bare compared to the decorated palace they were just in. Allura had them all gather in the bridge. They all gathered around the command module, and Allura began the speech she gave after every successful diplomatic mission. She talked about how great their contribution to the coalition would be, but how they also need to gain the support of many other planets if they are truly to defeat the Galra Empire. Keith had tuned out of the speech, and started thinking about the figures he saw, and how strange they looked. After the speech was over Keith decided to say something about it. “Just before I got on the castle. I saw someone run towards three others.”

“There were many people who were meeting up after the celebration. It could have just been a group of people.” Allura said.

“No. I know what I saw. They looked like they were almost Galra.” Keith said.

“Almost Galra? Like you?” Hunk said.

“Yeah, but that's not the point.” Keith said.

“Keith is galra?” Matt said.

“No, my mother was galra, but I’m not.” Keith said.

“I don’t believe that is what we should be focusing on that right now.” Allura said.

“Allura’s right. We should be focusing on what Keith saw.” Shiro said.

Shiro turned to Keith and said, “Keith tell us what you saw.”

“All of them seemed to be some shade of purple. One just looked like it could have even been half human?” Keith said.

“Half-human like you?” Hunk said.

“Hunk! I am not half galra.” Keith said.

“Ok. Whatever you say.” Hunk said.

“The three it was running towards were hard to see. There was one who seemed slightly pink and had something that looked like a long ponytail. The other seemed like she was just a tall galra. I couldn’t really make out the features of the last one, but she was wearing a hood and had a long tail.” Keith said.

“I think I’ve seen the last one before, but I’m not sure.” Pidge said.

“Where would you have seen her before?” Allura said.

“I-I think I saw her when I was captured by Lotor.” Pidge said.

Everyone stood there in disbelief. “You really saw her when you were on Lotor’s ship?” Keith said.  
“I think so, but I was having trouble staying conscious, and I can’t even remember her face, but it sounds like her.” Pidge said.

“I think I saw the others when I was on Lotor’s ship. I would see them talking to the guards through a slit in the door.” Shiro said.

“If they’re really connected to Lotor than that why would they be so close to us?” Hunk said.

“I’m not sure” Shiro said.

“Why should we care why they were watching us? If they were on Yuzam than that means that Lance could be nearby! We can follow them! We can save Lance!” Keith said.

“Keith, we’ve already been over this saving Lance would be too dangerous.” Shiro said.

“Yeah, well you know what you told me that there was a way to get him out, and that we would try to get him out, but every single time someone brings up actually trying to rescue him, you shut it down.” Keith said.

“Keith, I’ve seen what Lotor is capable of and it would be much too dangerous!” Shiro said.

“It doesn’t matter how dangerous it is. Lance is our friend we can’t leave him at the hands of a monster like Lotor!” Keith said.

“We don’t know if Lance is even still alive!” Shiro said.

The room went dead silent. Shiro had said the one thing that had been on their minds. The one thing that they didn’t want to contemplate. The mere suggestion just pissed Keith off more. “LANCE IS STILL ALIVE. If he wasn’t they why would they be stalking us.” Keith said.

“They could be baiting us into a trap.” Shiro said.

“Lance knew he was walking into a trap when he went to rescue you. So, don’t you dare use that as an excuse.” Keith said.

“You two need to calm down. We’re all worried about Lance, but we can’t let his absence tear us apart.” Allura said.

Keith looked at Allura coldly and said, “If you cared about Lance as much as I do, you would try to get him back.”

Keith left the room as Allura was processing what he had just said. He was headed to the Red Lion, just so that he could try to find Lance. Nothing was going to stop him from saving Lance.

He heard footsteps from behind, but he tried to ignore whoever was running after him. He heard a voice call from behind “Keith! Wait!” It was Matt who was chasing him.

Matt was gaining on Keith fast, but Keith had to ignore that. He was almost to the hangar. If he got there then he would just be able to lock Matt out, but Matt managed to get in front of him. “Keith! You need to think about what you’re doing.”

“I’m saving Lance. That’s what I’m doing.” Keith said.

“You’re putting yourself in danger! That’s what you’re doing!” Matt said.

“Lance needs me to save him.” Keith said.

“The team needs you to be here.” Matt said.

“I know, but Lance needs me right now.” Keith said.

Matt put his hand on Keith’s shoulder. “I know what you’re going through right now. When I saw my father being taken away by the galra. I would do anything to get him back.” Matt said.  
“I’m willing to do anything to get Lance back, so I’m going to chase after them.” Keith said.

“If you’re so insistent on chasing after them than I’ll help you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next one will be published by March 19, 2018. (I needed a bit more time) Also I changed a bit of the conversation to reflect canon and something that will happen later in the story.


	12. The Video

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this was a little over a week late.

The mission to obtain footage was a delicate one, and Acxa felt that they had pulled it off perfectly. The four generals had lifted off after waiting a few minutes after the Castle of the Lions left, so that they wouldn’t draw suspicion. They had already sent the information to Lotor, and all they had to was to get back to the base, which was only a few hours away. Despite this being a relatively short flight Ezor complained. “Why couldn’t we just have used that new machine that could teleport us.”

“We can’t use it because _somebody_ destroyed it.” Acxa said.

“Hey! It got crushed too easily!”  Zethrid said.

“Well, that doesn’t matter now. All that matters is that we get back to the base” Acxa said. 

“I just don’t understand why we couldn’t just have flown the base over here.” Ezor said.

“If we flew the base over here then they would have tried to fight us.” Acxa said.

“We could easily take them in a fight.” Zethrid said.

“Fighting would have just hindered our plans” Acxa said.

A beeping noise came from the ship’s radar. “THERE’S TWO LIONS FOLLOWING US.” Ezor said.

“How could they have noticed us!” Acxa said.

“I don’t know, but there’s two of them!” Ezor said.

“Why does it matter how they noticed us? We can still beat them in a fight!” Zethrid said.

“No, we can’t. This ship doesn’t have the fire power to take down a Voltron Lion.” Acxa said.

“Then what do we do?” Ezor said.

“There’s an asteroid belt up ahead. We go as fast as this ship can and hide on a nearby asteroid. We’ll be able to escape while they’re looking for us.” Acxa said.

“Everyone, get to your stations.” Acxa said.

The other three generals nodded and proceeded to head to their stations. Acxa was manning the controls, while Ezor monitored the ships radar, Zethrid prepared to fire at the two ships, and Narti tried to send a distress signal to Lotor.

They quickly approached the asteroid belt, but the two Lions neared closer and closer. The Red Lion was less than 100 feet away from the ship when an asteroid hit it. The ship got to the belt, but the Blue Lion was still behind them. They zipped around a nearby asteroid, and hid in a cave. They saw the Lion fly by, but it didn’t stop. They sat there in silence, and waited. All seemed quiet for a moment. “Do you think they’re gone,” Ezor said.

A quake rocked the ship, and the surrounding cavern from side to side. “What was that?” Ezor said.

“I don’t know, but we should get out of here.” Acxa said.

They didn’t want to waste a single moment. They started the prepartions to take off, but found that their equipment no longer worked. “What do we do now?” Ezor said.

“We can go out and fight them!” Zethrid said.

“Under normal circumstances that would be a bad idea.” Acxa said.

Acxa took in a deep breath, “But, that seems to be our best option at the moment.”

They gathered everything that they needed for this fight. Each of them had four bags with supplies in them. They headed out of the cave with their weapons in hand. As they approached the cave exit Acxa gripped her gun tighter. The asteroid seemed to stand still. They exited the cave, but it seemed as if no one was around. They stood with their weapons drawn.

“Spread out and scan the area, something had to cause that tremor.” Acxa said.

They each headed out in separate directions. Acxa went north while Ezor went south, and Zethrid went east, while Narti headed west. Ezor saw nothing as she traveled west. Narti scanned the west with Kova, but found nothing. Zethrid had the same results as well, but Acxa found the Red Lion and the Blue Lion sitting atop the asteroid, but their paladins were no where in sight.

Acxa snuck around the ship to see if she could find them, but had no such luck. She started to head back so that she could group up with the others. But, she was knocked to the ground after a staff quickly hit her legs.

She quickly got up, and looked around for her attacker. There was no one in sight. She shouted, “Show yourself!”

But, no one appeared it was still quiet. She hated this feeling of being someone else’s prey. She drew out her gun and started firing on different rocks. The area around her stayed silent. She fired more rounds, but no one appeared. She knew that there had to be someone else around her, as there was no way that a meteorite had simply hit her. She decided that it would be best to just turn around and head back.

As she reached the way back, a staff tried to knock her off her feet, but this time she was expecting it. She dodged the swipe, and shot at its origin. She saw the expolosion of a rock behind her, but she now knew where her attacker was. She shot around the area again, and she was unable to land a single hit. She screamed in frustration.

Another blow came to her, and she was knocked out for a few seconds. But, a lot can occur in a few seconds, and losing is battle is among them. She was tied up with rope, and her gun was missing. She came to and saw the two people who had defeated her. It was the Red and Blue Paladin. “Why did you two follow us?” Acxa said.

“We want to know where Lance is!” Keith said.

“You want to know where Lance is. He’s right where he wants to be.” Acxa said.

“What do you mean where he wants to be.” Keith said.

“Far away from you, and far away from Voltron.” Acxa said.

“You’re wrong!” Keith said.

“Look at how easily you replaced him.” She used her arms that were slightly free to gesture to Matt.

“We didn’t replace Lance.” Keith said.

“Yeah, I’m not a replacement for anyone.” Matt said.

“If Lance hadn’t joined us than you wouldn’t be the Blue Paladin. You would still be just a regular rebel.” Acxa said.

“I’m fine with being a regular rebel.” Matt said.

“What does this all have to do with Lance not wanting to do anything with Voltron anyways.” Keith said.

“He was unappreciated. Especially, for his abilities.” Acxa said.

“What do you mean by that!” Keith said.

“I mean that you were awful to him, so he turned to someone who would truly appreciate him and his abilities.”

“We appreciated him for more than his abilities. We appreciated him for who he was!” Keith said.

“Lance certainly didn’t feel this way. And he’s much happier working with us than when he was working with you.” Acxa said.

“No! That’s a lie! Everything you’ve said so far has been a lie!” Keith said.

“Have they all been a lie or has your conception of Lance been a lie.” Acxa said.

“NO! I knew Lance more than you did, and he would never have betrayed us.” Keith said.

“If you don’t believe me check my bag. There’s a video that I was supposed to show any members of Voltron.” Axca said.

Keith got out the small device and turned it on. A screen popped up, and showed a still frame. It was Lance sitting there while wearing Galra uniform. He looked uncharacteristically solemn. Keith pressed play, and the video started up. “I have no easy way this but, I have decided to leave Voltron, and have joined the Galra Empire.”

It was so jarring to hear Lance say that statement with his own words, but the video continued. “I know this comes as a surprise, but I have grown tired of having each and every one of you ignoring me all the time. I’m tired of every single one you treating me as a burden.”

With each word that Lance said Keith’s chest got heavier, but he tried to continue watching the video. “Shiro, you were my idol when I was trying to get into the Garrison, but all you did was try and put me down. Pidge, I cared about you as if you were my little sister, but all you did was push me away.”

Keith glanced at Matt for a reaction, but Matt’s face stayed in a somber expression. He turned back to the video. “Hunk, you were my closest friend in the Garrison, but when we joined Voltron, it was as if you no longer wanted to be around me. Allura, I genuinely respected you as a teammate, but you didn’t even respect me as a friend.”

Lance’s face grew grim, “And, Keith I know I treated you like you were my rival, but the truth is I looked up to you when we were in the Garrison. But, you never seemed listened to me, and you never seemed to care.”

Keith felt as if the just had the wind knocked out of him. Tears began to form in his eyes, but he tried to listen to what Lance was saying. “And you want to know how I discovered all of this. It was simple, I had been a prisoner for months, and you never even tried to rescue me. So, I’ve given up on you the same way you gave up on me.”

Those last words were the final straw. Keith broke down in tears. His chest heaved with each breath. “This can’t be true. It just can’t be.” Keith said.

Matt who had been silent turned to Keith, and put his hand on Keith’s shoulder. “I think it just might be true.”

“No, it’s not!” Keith started to sob harder.

He managed to speak only a few hoarse words between his heavy breaths. “It could never be true.”

Keith quickly ran back to his lion with the video player still in his hand. Matt shouted. “Keith! Wait!” But is was no use. Keith had already begun to take off. Matt ran into his lion, and started to follow Keith back to the castle.

Acxa sat there in silence for a few moments. They had failed to undo her bonds. It took a few moments, but eventually she saw Ezor run up to her, and cut the rope that had been used to tie up her hands. “Acxa! The ship’s working again. Did you find anything?” Ezor said.

“I found the Lions, but don’t think they’ll be bothering us for a while. Let’s go.” Acxa said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next date where I will be able to post Ch. 13 is most likely going to be by July 4th. I'm putting the finishing touches on the chapter. After that I will hopefully be able to start posting on a regular schedule with at least one update a week.


	13. The Reaction

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this took over three months to write. My summer has been much more busy than school. Also I changed some lines to reflect canon. Also this is the first chapter that I have proof read.

Shiro and Allura had been in the bridge waiting for Keith and Matt to come back. They had been sitting in silence for the past hour. The gentle hum of the devices had started to sound like a million voices screaming in unison. It was becoming unbearable, but they couldn’t leave. They had to know if Keith and Matt were okay. The radar showed that their lions had been in the exact same spot for almost an hour, and they were refusing to respond. After a few minutes, the radar began to start showing the lions move towards the castle. Shiro immediately raced to the Red Lion’s hangar, while Allura headed towards the Blue Lion’s hangar.

When Shiro got to hangar the Red Lion had already landed. Shiro stood outside the Red Lion waiting for Keith to come out. Eventually, it got to a point where Shiro just couldn’t wait any longer. He cupped his hands over his mouth, and shouted, “Keith! You need to come out of your Lion!”

Shiro waited for what felt like hours, but Keith didn’t come out of his Lion. It eventually came to the point where Shiro began to wonder if Keith was even in his lion at all. He began to leave the hangar to search for him elsewhere, when he heard the sound of Keith exiting the Red Lion.  Shiro quickly turned around. He saw Keith standing there. He had his head down low, but that couldn’t hide the tears that were streaming down his face. The anger that Shiro had felt quickly melted away, and was replaced by concern. Shiro walked towards Keith, and said in a soft low voice “Keith. What’s wrong?”

“There’s nothing wrong. I’m fine” Keith said.

Shiro wasn’t sure that was true, but before he could call Keith out on it. Keith quickly left. Shiro knew better than to follow Keith when he was like this. But, he had to know what went wrong on the mission.

He went back to the bridge and hoped that Allura had better luck with talking to Matt. When, he got there he saw that the bridge was empty. He stood there and waited patiently questions flying around in his mind Did they find something out about Lance? Did they find out where he was? Is Lance okay?

The questions in his mind were getting worse each second that passed by. It was only when Allura and Matt entered the bridge. Both of their faces were solemn. “What happened?” Shiro asked.

Matt looked at Shiro with a twinge of pain in expression. “Keith and I went after the figures, and they were generals for Lotor. They tried to hid on an asteroid, but I used the Blue Lion’s sonar to cause an earthquake and draw them out. Well, we only found one of the generals, but we found a video.”

“A video?” Shiro said.

“Yeah, one of the generals was carrying it on them.”

“What does the video say?”

“I think you should see it for yourself, but Keith has it.”

Shiro was not looking forward to this confrontation, but it had to be done. He went to Keith’s room determined to find out what happened in the video. He knocked on Keith’s door, but didn’t get an answer. “Keith. I know you’re upset, and I want to help, but I can’t unless you open your door.” Shiro said.

The door slid open. Keith stood there. His face was even worse than it was when Shiro last saw him. His eyes were red, and his hair was a mess. “Listen Keith,” Shiro said. “Matt told me about what happened.”

“Did he tell you about the video.” Keith asked.

“He only told me that you have it.”

Keith was silent for a moment. He took a deep breath, looked at Shiro and said, “I think everyone should see it.”

“What? Why?” Shiro said.

“They all need to see what’s in this video.”

“Okay. I’ll gather everyone.”

Shiro left and quickly spread the word. Allura and Matt understood and decided to help get the video ready. Pidge and Hunk were quickly at the bridge. Coran came a bit later. And, the only one who was missing was Keith.

They anxiously waited for him. And after what felt like and eternity, Keith finally showed up. All eyes went towards him. He slunk over and handed a device to Pidge without saying a single word. She connected the device to the computer. The video than came up on the big screen.

It started playing. The room was silent as Lance’s face came on the screen. Lance looked so much different then when they last saw him. His hair was slicked back, and his face showed an expression of sorrow that they had never seen on his face before. “I have no easy way this but, I have decided to leave Voltron, and have joined the Galra Empire.”

This shocked everyone to their core. They all stood silent watching the video. “I’m tired of every single one you treating me as a burden.”

They all were shocked. But, none of them wanted to interrupt the video.

“Shiro, you were my idol when I was trying to get into the Garrison, but all you did was try and put me down.” Upon hearing these words Shiro hung his head down low.

“Pidge, I cared about you as if you were my little sister, but all you did was push me away.” Pidge was silent, but it was clear that she was crying.

“Hunk, you were my closest friend in the Garrison, but when we joined Voltron it was as if you no longer  Hunk stood there with an expression that was a mixture of shock and despair, and he said a faint, “That’s not true.”

“Allura, I genuinely respected you as a teammate, but you didn’t even respect me as a friend.” Allura put her hand over her mouth in shock.

“And, Keith I know I treated you like you were my rival, but the truth is I looked up to you when we were in the Garrison. But, you never seemed to listen to me and you never seemed to care.” Everyone glanced at Keith, but his expression was obsucured by his hair in front of his face.

“And, you want to know how I discovered all of this. It was simple. I had been a prisoner for months, and you never even tried to rescue me. So, I’ve given up on you the same way you’ve given up on me.” The video cut out, and they just stood there in stunned silence. Pidge was the first one to speak up. “We never gave up on him.” 

“Didn’t we though?” Keith replied.

“What do you mean?” Shiro asked.

“We searched for him for weeks, but after that it only became an afterthought.” Keith said.

“That doesn’t mean that we’ve gave up searching for him.” Allura said.

“When we found out that the generals who helped kidnap Lance were closeby, YOU told me not to go after them even though they were our only lead to where Lance was.” 

There was a silence wrapped around the room. Keith’s eyes became moist, and his breathing became heavy. “And, now we’ve lost Lance.”

“There’s nothing we could’ve done.” Allura said.

“Wasn’t there, Princess, Wasn’t there.” Keith said. 

Everyone stayed silent, as Keith walk out of the room. Leaving everyone alone with their thoughts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End Note Edited Date September 14, 2018.  
> I am sorry that the next chapter is taking so long, but a lot of life circumstances came into play, and I am doing a new system that will hopefully get chapters up much quicker. Chapter 14 is nearing it's completion and will be posted soon.


	14. The Invasion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for how long it took this chapter to be written

It had been a couple months since Lance renounced Voltron, and joined the Galra Empire. His training had become more rigorous, but the generals have warmed up to him since they got back from their mission.

Lance had just gotten back from training, and was laying in his room. His mind was absent, since he was exhausted from the training. The hum that he once sounded like the swarm of angry bees whose nest he once knocked down, now sounded like the purr of his family’s cat. The purple lights that reminded him that he was a prisoner, were now a reminder that he was where he belonged. He was so lost in thought that he heard the beeping of his communication device. He looked at it and it read. “Meet me in the Command Center for an urgent briefing.”

Lance got out of his bed and immediately headed towards the Command Center. He was wondering if he had done something wrong recently. He assumed that he hadn’t and would have remembered so if he had. So, could something else be wrong. His heart started to race as he neared the entrance.

He entered the Command Center. The four generals were standing at attention. Lotor was facing a screen and turned around when Lance entered. “Now that you are all here we can begin. First of all we are going to be regaining a Balmera. This Balmera was lost after a rebellion that occurred almost a deca-pheb ago, and was a vital source of quintessence for the Galra Empire.” 

Attacking a Balmera was an awful thought. Lance hoped that it wasn’t the one that he had fought so hard to free. But, when Lotor brought up a picture of the Balmera, Lance quickly felt sick to his stomach because he recognized it. But, that could have been any Balmera, since they all But, as he continued to listen to what Lotor was saying, he felt even worse. “We are going to attack this planet in teams. Acxa, Ezor, Narti, and Zethrid, you will be gathering citizens up. Lance, you will be helping me take down their leadership. Do you understand what you are supposed to do.”

“Yes sir!” They all replied.

“Good, now go prepare for the attack, Lance you stay with me.” Lotor commanded

The generals quickly exited the room, leaving Lance alone with Lotor. After a few moments Lotor turned to him and said, “Lance, you might have figured it out already, but the Balmera that you’re attacking is indeed the one that you managed to push the Galra away so long ago. So, it is of the most importance that you do not let your emotions get in the way of the mission.”

Lance stood up straight, “Yes sir,” He replied.

“Good now, go get ready. We are leaving in a varga.” Lotor said.

Lance left the room as quickly as he could. He didn’t know what Lotor had meant by get ready, but what Lance did know is that the thought of attacking the Balmera didn’t sit right with him. He had fought with his team to save it, and now he was dooming it. 

He went to his room. He wanted to grab something that would give him strength to do what he needed to do, but all he found was that he didn’t have anything worth taking with him. He left the room feeling dejected. 

He decided not to dwell on this, and went to the supply room. When, he got there the room was empty. There were some weapons that were missing. Most likely because the Generals had been there before. He grabbed a nearby rifle. He just hoped that he wouldn’t have to use it.

He headed towards the ship that he would be taking down to the Balmera. He started to wonder if stopping an invasion on Earth was truly worth attacking another planet. Were their lives worth more than the ones on Earth simply because they aren’t from the same planet as him? Lotor was going to attack the Balmera anyways so it didn’t matter if he was apart of it. But, he could be with Voltron fighting them off, but instead he’s helping them attack.

Voltron that name him struck him like lighting. The name of the group that he thought were his friends. They would probably hear about the attack, and come to defend the planet. Lance didn’t think that he was ready to face them once again, but he didn’t have much of a choice if they did.

The thoughts about whether what he was doing was right or wrong was growing unbearable. He started to think about what he would have to accomplish on this mission. He knew that he would have to help Lotor regain control, but that was it.

He got to the ship that he would be going down to the planet on. Lotor wasn’t there yet, so Lance went inside the ship to get everything ready. He got into the cockpit, and looked at the controls. They were all written in Galra, but Lance was able to get the general gist of it. After all, it wasn’t too different from the Blue Lion’s cockpit. He started it up, and sat and waited for Lotor to arrive.

Lance was getting impatient about when Lotor would arrive, but just when he was about to leave the ship to check where Lotor was; Lance saw heading towards the ship. Lance opened up the Cargo Hold, so that Lotor could get in. 

Lotor entered the ship, and went into the cockpit. “So, when do we go to the Balmera?” Lance asked.

“We go down after the Generals have done their work and managed to get the leaders in one place. We go in after, and I talk to them about surrendering. While we are there talking a large fleet of battle cruisers will appear. The leaders will see that they are clearly outmatched. And, they will take the most reasonable course of action which will be surrendering.” Lotor said.

“Alright. So, when do you think the Generals will be done?” Lance asked.

“The Generals are very quick with their work so we should be heading their in a few ticks.” Lotor replies.

“Alright,” Lance said.

Lotor sat in the pilots seat, while Lance sat in the co-pilot's seat. The ship which had only been lightly humming, turned into a full roar as the ship began its flight. Lance watched the ships screens making sure that there wasn’t anything wrong with the ship.

They flew for a few minutes before the Balmera came into sight. Seeing it in person was much different than seeing it in photos. It made the reality of what was happening sink in. Lance was now trapped in a ship with the leader of an imperialist civilization heading towards a planet he once freed and was going to help the people who he freed it from reconquer it. Lance didn’t want to be the bad guy. He knew what he had to do was wrong. He could attack Lotor. That could end in two ways. Lance dies and Lotor goes on to conquer both the Balmera and Earth. Or Lotor dies and Lance has to fight the Generals and the Galra Empire is taken over by someone much crueler and won’t be as merciful to Earth. There was no good ending to either of those situations.

So, Lance just sat there doing nothing as Lotor went on to harm an entire civilization. As they came closer to the Balmera, Lance got more anxious. He didn't want to be doing this, but he had no choice. 

They landed on the Balmera and Lance could already see that the Generals had been there. There weren’t any Balmerans around, but Lance could feel the anxious atmosphere around him. Lotor got up out of his chair and began to walk towards the cargo hull of the ship. Lotor picked up one of the guns on the ship and handed it to Lance “Here’s your rifle. Use it as necessary.” Lotor said.

Lance took the gun. He had always prided himself on his shooting abilities, but the thought of shooting a Balmeran, because they don’t want their planet taken over again was unbearable. Lance put on his helmet, and followed Lotor out of the ship.

As they walked through the planet seemed deserted. Lotor walked swiftly as if he knew the planet like the back of his hand. They reached one of the millions of holes in planet. It looked like a gaping mouth that was ready swallow Lance hole. “We have to climb down to the bottom.” Lotor said.

The hole looked like it was thousands of miles down, but Lance knew that he would have to climb all the way to the bottom. He grabbed on to one of the ladders and started to climb down. While, he was climbing down he noticed figures only a few floors below them. It was the Generals and the Balmerans. They were headed to the same destination as well. But, if they were all ready down there then where were they going? 

Lance wanted to ask Lotor, but he knew that Lotor probably wanted him to stay quiet so they don’t alert the people below them to their presence. Stealth wasn’t anything Lance was new to. After all he snuck out of the Garrison all the time. 

They shadowed the group for a while. Eventually, they reached a place that looked like a former Galra hangar. As Lance got closer to it he started to realize that he had been to this hangar before. He fought side by side with Keith so they could shut it down and stop any more ships from coming out. He wished that he never met Keith sometimes. Keith was the reason he was in space. Keith was the one people were comparing his skills to Keith. Keith was the one he admired, but he rejected him.

Lotor turned to Lance. “I’m going to give a speech about our intention. Then I’m going to introduce you. When I do I want you to remove your helmet and show everyone who you are.”

“I’m won’t be able to breathe then.” Lance said.

“Hmmm….” Lotor began to rummage around his bag for something. “Aha here it is” Lotor pulled out a what looked half of a transparent cone. “This is a brethaniator. It will help you breathe for now.”

“Ok” Lance took the cone from Lotor’s hand.

Lotor headed into the room. Lance could hear his speech over the intercoms. “Greetings Balmerans. I am Lotor. The new emperor of the Galra Empire.” Lotor said with relish in his voice.

“For deca-phoebes the Galra Empire reigned over this place, but when Voltron came you got this inane idea that leaving the Empire was the right thing to do. But in reality, you all benefited from being ruled by the Empire.” He left a period of silence so that his message settled in.

“Even a member of your precious Voltron managed to see the light. Ladies and Gentle look upon the former Blue Paladin, Lance.” Lotor pointed to the door.

“Okay, I guess that’s my signal,” Lance said to himself. He walked through the doors without his helmet. Gasps filled the room, because that was undeniably Lance. As Lance walked though he didn’t dare look anyone in the eyes.

“Now, if you are not convinced by what I have said than I hope what is about to happen will convince you thoroughly.” Lotor gestured to screen that began to pop up. They showed a video feed of thousands of Galra Battlecruisers that were surrounding the Balmera. “Each of these ships are prepared to destroy the Balmera with all of you on it if you do not surrender,”

Stunned silence filled the room. “But, if you do surrender than everything will go back to the way before with some minor differences.” 

A large amount of silence filled the room, but it is broken by a single voice “We would rather die than go back into the oppression that you put us all under.” 

Everyone looked at the one who spoke it was Rax, Shay’s brother. “Is that so? Well that is unfortunate after all I had hoped that we wouldn’t have to resort to violence, but so be it.” Lotor said.

Lotor was about to walk out of the room, when Ezor shouted, “Hey, look who we found trying to call for help.”

All eyes turned to the Generals. What they saw was shocking. Zethrid was holding Shay in handcuffs. Everyone was stunned. Lance took a step back in disbelief. Shay was the last person he wanted to see in the mission, and now that the Generals caught her nothing good could come from this. “Well, it now seems we have an example of what’s going to come unless you all change your minds.” Lotor said. “Bring her up here.”

The Generals dragged Shay up to where Lotor was standing. Lotor turned to Lance, “You will have the honor of sending the message to the Balmerans.” He said.

Lance was now in full panic mode. He didn’t want to kill Shay. Sure, he was still mad at Hunk for what he said, but he couldn’t kill his crush for that. Shay is just an innocent caught up in this whole mess. “I have to kill her?” Lance asked quietly.

“Well, I prefer the term make an example of, but to each their own. Also don’t forget the agreement we have.” Lotor replied.

Lance took a deep breath, and raised his rifle. “Lance, please don’t do this.” Shay begged.

The words cut deeply into Lance, but he had to ignore her if he was going to protect Earth. “Lance! Please!” Shay screamed.

Lance tried to block out her pleads but it was getting more difficult by the second. “Don’t you dare hurt Shay.” Rax shouted. He ran up to the stage. People parted like the Red Sea so he could get up there. Just as he was about to reach Shay. Acxa quickly took out her gun and shot him.

Rax fell to the ground. He was knocked unconscious by the blast. “Rax!” Shay cried. 

Lance just stood there. What just happened was unthinkable. “Well,” Lotor said. “Show then what happens when you reject the Galra Empire.”

Lance got a sick feeling in his stomach. He raised his rifle once again, but this time Shay didn’t beg for her life. She just had her head held down and was sobbing. Lance took a deep breath. Looked away. And he pulled the trigger.

Shay fell to the ground. Lance stood there. He couldn’t believe what he had just done. “Well, now I hope you all understand the full weight of your decisions.” Lotor said. “So, now I ask you once again. Will you join me?”

The Balmerans stood there stunned. They just witnessed two of their own get shot. They just stood there in silence. “Well, I asked if you are going to join me?” Lotor asked.

The Balmerans look around at each other. One screamed, “We are never joining you.” The crowd started to shout things that agreed with them. 

The situation seemed like it would explode at any second. “We need to deal with this crowd. The four of you deal with the crowd. Lance and I will go back to the ship.” Lotor said. 

Lance was relieved to hear that he was going to be leaving. All he currently wanted to do was curl up in a ball and go to sleep.

Lotor took Lance’s hand and pulled him out of the abandoned hangar. They climbed out of the hole, and quickly headed toward the ship.

Lance climbed into the ship and took one last look back at the Balmera. He hoped that he would never have to look at this place ever again.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 15 will be posted hopefully within the next month.


End file.
